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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22984909">This Isn't What it Looks Like</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarai/pseuds/Sarai'>Sarai</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkwardness, Fluff, M/M, No one gets hurt, minor misunderstanding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:35:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>993</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22984909</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarai/pseuds/Sarai</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The morning after their kiss, Jesper and Wylan enjoy a few quiet moments together.</p><p>It doesn't last.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>135</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>This Isn't What it Looks Like</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After their kiss, it was like a dam had broken inside Wylan. It hadn’t broken fully. Wylan had not thrown himself at Jesper with reckless, wanton abandon—Jesper wouldn’t have objected—but approached him more readily. Jesper remembered Wylan’s hesitance to approach even a few days ago, on the boat to Olendaal. That was gone. Instead, Wylan sat close to Jesper on the settee. He didn’t say anything, just settled with a notebook, scratching at the page.<br/><br/>Jesper craned his neck to get a look. He expected sketches, or for Wylan to shield his work. Instead, he saw sketches of chemical compounds. Though lab sciences had never been Jesper’s preferred area of study, he recognized the basic shapes. He also recognized that they should have been marked with letters, but Wylan used numbers. Was that how he worked out new ideas for demo? Jesper had never considered before how Wylan’s inability to read would impact his chemistry work.<br/><br/>Wylan glanced up. Jesper considered responding with a compliment, but instead opted for, “I knew you couldn’t resist watching me!”<br/><br/>Wylan just shook his head and went back to his work. Jesper had nothing to do, and it was making him itch. Luckily the Geldrenner provided complimentary stationery that was excellent for ripping into confetti.<br/><br/>The first time their thighs brushed, Jesper assumed it was a coincidence—but Wylan blushed and looked away.<br/><br/>Then Wylan’s knee nudged Jesper, and Wylan once more burned and focused determinedly on a spot of carpet that was objectively no more interesting than the rest of the carpet. He still held his notebook, but his pen had gone very still.<br/><br/>Sure, Jesper could have said something reassuring. Instead, he stroked a gentle finger along the back of Wylan’s hand and murmured, “Hey there, Van Sunshine,” and enjoyed immensely the strangled noise with which Wylan answered him.<br/><br/>For the sheer novelty of it, though, Jesper decided he preferred letting Wylan embarrass himself with hints of bravery in shy touches. Slowly, glowing pink, Wylan even brought himself close enough that they weren’t so much sharing the settee as sitting together on it. Jesper stroked the back of Wylan’s neck and Wylan responded with a soft gasp and a hot blush. Nothing could have served as better encouragement.<br/><br/>Part of Jesper knew he should have been thinking about the plan, about last night and everything that happened… but he couldn’t <em>do</em> anything about last night. He did not yet have a part of the plan to undertake, and thinking about the amount of people after them, the brawl with Kaz, that talk with his Da, thinking about what Wylan said to Genya—what good did it do? Thinking about the here and now, and Wylan beside him, now <em>that</em> did Jesper some good!<br/><br/>Jesper let his elbow hang over the back of the settee, fingertips toying with Wylan’s newly restored curls. Saints, he had missed those curls. He had missed Wylan’s long, faint eyelashes, the line of his jaw. He had missed this whole stupid face.<br/><br/>They sat that way, close enough to touch, Jesper studying Wylan while Wylan looked away in embarrassment, until Colm interrupted them both. He cleared his throat. Wylan startled and leapt to the opposite end of the settee, his notebook and pen flying out of his hands. Jesper snorted. <br/><br/>“I’d like a word with you, Jesper.”<br/><br/>Jesper winced. How was it his da could do that? The less he made a statement demanding, the more it must be obeyed. All it took was a ‘please’ and Jesper would be a dead man walking. Wylan, once more holding his notebook, offered Jesper what was surely meant as a reassuring smile.<br/><br/>He tried to think what he might have done this time.<br/><br/>“’Til then,” he murmured, tracing his fingers across Wylan’s shoulders as he stood.<br/><br/>When he spotted Colm’s face, Jesper’s cheery mood vaporized, and he remembered there was a world beyond just the purple settee and the beautiful, perfectly restored merchling there waiting for him. There was the rest of the Ketterdam Suite, for one thing. And his father’s disapproval, which was completely fair since the most honest man to ever walk to earth was being made a criminal by his son’s bad decisions. Oh—and a city filled with gangs and stadwatch hunting them! It was the little things, really.<br/><br/>“Da,” Jesper began, fiddling with the buttons on his cuffs, “if this is about the other night, I—”<br/><br/>“It’s not about that,” Colm interrupted.<br/><br/>Jesper nodded. He wasn’t eager to revisit that conversation. They had both said things that… he didn’t know. That they needed to discuss? Inej would probably say they needed to discuss it. Jesper would prefer doing anything else, but if his father had wanted another chat, Jesper owed it to him and Inej to try.<br/><br/>Instead, Colm said, “That Shu boy, Wylan—he’s in love with you.” That was taking things a bit far, Jesper thought, but he didn’t think he would entirely mind if it were the case. “You may not feel the same way, but you need to be honest. If you’re going to carry on with whoever you have in the other room—”<br/><br/>Jesper couldn’t help it: he laughed. It wasn’t exactly funny, but it was a relief! Okay, yes, not so good that his da thought he was two-timing, but at least this was just a simple misunderstanding.<br/><br/>“Jesper,” Colm said, disapproving.<br/><br/>“I’m sorry. It’s just, that is Wylan. It’s hard to explain,” Jesper added, seeing that Colm was unconvinced. <em>He’s Kerch now but he was Shu yesterday</em> was a stretch, even for Jesper. Instead, he said, “Come talk to him and you’ll see. I’m sure he would be happy to reassure you. Doubly so if there are waffles involved.”<br/><br/>Colm hesitated.<br/><br/>“I promise, Da.”<br/><br/>Another moment, and Colm Fahey nodded. Something in Jesper’s chest eased. He hadn’t realized just how much he needed for his father to believe him.</p>
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